Phenobarbital pharmacokinetics in obesity. A case report

A Review of Agents for Palliative Sedation/Continuous Deep Sedation: Pharmacology and Practical Applications

Continuous deep sedation at the end of life is a specific form of palliative sedation requiring a care plan that essentially places and maintains the patient in an unresponsive state because their symptoms are refractory to any other interventions. Because this application is uncommon, many providers may lack practical experience in this specialized area and resources they can access are outdated, nonspecific, and/or not comprehensive. The purpose of this review is to provide an evidence- and experience-based reference that specifically addresses those medications and regimens and their practical applications for this very narrow, but vital, aspect of hospice care. Patient goals in a hospital and hospice environments are different, so the manner in which widely used sedatives are dosed and applied can differ greatly as well. Parameters applied in end-of-life care that are based on experience and a thorough understanding of the pharmacology of those medications will differ from those applied in an intensive care unit or other medical environments. By recognizing these different goals and applying well-founded regimens geared specifically for end-of-life sedation, we can address our patients' symptoms in a more timely and efficacious manner.

Resuscitation of the morbidly obese patient

Obesity is a major health care problem in the United States. The body mass index (BMI) is the standard measure of obesity. A BMI >25 kg/m2 is defined as overweight and obesity as a BMI > 30 kg/m2. Recent surveys indicate that 54% of adults, or roughly 97 million people, are overweight. Given the incidence of obesity in the general population, it is likely that EM physicians will be involved in the emergency care of critically ill or injured obese patients. The objective of this article is to present the clinical problems associated with the resuscitation of the critically ill or injured obese patient and their potential solutions.

Standards of laboratory practice: antiepileptic drug monitoring

Discussion and development of standards for appropriate monitoring led to the following key recommendations for ordering, sampling, and analyzing antiepileptic drugs: Monitoring should usually be done on trough specimens after steady-state has been reached and always with an appropriate medical indication; non-steady-state concentrations may be indicated in selected situations. Monitoring of free phenytoin and free valproic acid is indicated in specific situations and should be done in serum. The metabolite of primidone, phenobarbital, should be measured concurrently with parent drug, but the active metabolite of carbamazepine does not need to be monitored unless the patient is exhibiting an unusual toxic response that cannot be otherwise explained. Assays used for antiepileptic drug monitoring should display a long-term CV of <10% and preferably <5%. Subtherapeutic and supratherapeutic drug concentrations should be investigated on a regular basis as part of a quality assurance process.

Clearance of phenytoin and valproic acid is affected by a small body weight reduction in an epileptic obese patient: a case study

The interaction between clearance of phenytoin, valproic acid, phenobarbital and carbamazepine, and changes in body weight was determined in a 19-year-old obese woman with epilepsy (body weight 93 kg, BMI 36.3 kg/m2). The patient, who was given daily oral doses of 100 mg phenobarbital, 350 mg phenytoin, 800 mg valproic acid and 800 mg carbamazepine over 5 months was hospitalized for obesity treatment. The daily dosage of each drug was held constant during treatment of the obesity. Blood samples were taken five times. Weight reduction was 7 kg (7.5%) over 46 days. Estimation of the pharmacokinetic parameters in each drug was performed by Higuchi's Bayesian program, PEDA Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) between clearance and body weight was calculated for each drug. High positive correlations were found between clearance and body weight for phenytoin (r = 0.800) and valproic acid (r = 0.785), but not for phenobarbital (r = -0.227) and carbamazepine (r = 0.152). Clearance of phenytoin and valproic acid may be potentially affected by small changes in body weight.

Clinical and histologic predictors of response to interferon-alpha in patients with chronic hepatitis C viral infection

To evaluate if any pretreatment characteristics of patients with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) can be used to predict response to the current recommended dose (3 million units three times a week) and higher doses of interferon-alpha (IFN), we retrospectively assessed the response of 37 patients with HCV who were treated with IFN. Sixteen patients (43%) responded to the standard dose of IFN with normalization of ALT. Weight and liver histology were found to be significant factors for response. The responders weighed significantly less than nonresponders (161.8 +/- 35.5 lb versus 200.3 +/- 45.4 lb, P = 0.008). Seventy-five percent of patients with chronic lobular or persistent hepatitis were responders, whereas only 28% of patients with more advanced hepatitis responded (P = 0.01). There was no correlation between the degree of bile duct damage or steatosis and response rate. This study suggests that obesity and severe histologic injury are negative predictive factors of response to the current recommended dose of IFN. The adequacy of the current recommended dose of IFN in overweight patients needs to be investigated.

Clinical pharmacokinetics of drugs in obesity. An update

Obesity is common enough to constitute a serious medical and public health problem. Drug prescription for obese patients is difficult since dosages based on pharmacokinetic data obtained in normal-weight individuals could induce errors. In obese patients, physiopathological modifications are likely to affect drug tissue distribution and elimination. Body constitution is characterised by a higher percentage of fat and a lower percentage of lean tissue and water. Although the cardiac output and total blood volume are increased, the blood flow per gram of fat is less than in nonobese individuals. Histological hepatic alterations are commonly reported in morbidly obese individuals. A higher glomerular filtration rate is also observed. Most of the pharmacokinetic information concerning obesity deals with distribution. Published data concerning molecules with moderate and weak lipophilicity are homogeneous. In obese compared with normal weight individuals, the total volume of distribution (Vd) is moderately increased (aminoglycosides, caffeine) or similar (H2-blockers, neuromuscular blockers), but the Vd corrected by kilogram of actual bodyweight is significantly smaller. These drugs distribute to a limited extent in excess bodyweight. For highly lipophilic drugs, despite this common characteristic, discrepancies in distribution in obesity exist between drugs belonging to different pharmacological classes. Some drugs show a clear augmentation of Vd and elimination half-life (benzodiazepines, carbamazepine, trazodone, verapamil, sufentanil), indicating a marked distribution into adipose tissue. For others, Vd and Vd/kg are decreased (cyclosporin, propranolol), suggesting that factors other than lipid solubility intervene in tissue distribution. As a general trend, the total clearance (CL) of drugs metabolised by oxidation, conjugation or reduction, and also of drugs with flow-dependent hepatic clearance, is not diminished in obesity. Usually CL is identical in obese and nonobese individuals, sometimes it is increased in obesity (enflurane, halothane, prednisolone, some benzodiazepines). With some drugs a significant reduction in CL is observed in obese individuals (methylprednisolone, propranolol). Renal clearance of aminoglycosides and cimetidine increases in obese individuals. Practical guidelines for dosage adjustment are proposed. For drugs with distribution restricted to lean tissues, the loading dose should be based on the ideal bodyweight of patients. For drugs markedly distributed into fat tissue the loading dose is based on total bodyweight. Adjustment of the maintenance dose depends on possible changes in CL. In some cases (atracurium, prednisolone) dosage adjustment does not follow these recommendations, owing to pharmacodynamic data.